ClipLedge lives in the menu bar as a paperclip and keeps everything you copy, ready to search and paste back. Here is how to get going in a couple of minutes.
Install and open ClipLedge
Download ClipLedge, move it to your Applications folder, and open it. It has no Dock icon; it runs in the menu bar. The first time you open it, macOS may ask you to confirm, because the app is not yet notarized. See opening ClipLedge the first time if you hit that prompt.
A one-time welcome panel explains the hotkey and offers to turn on auto-paste.
Grant Accessibility access so it can paste
To paste straight into the app you are using, ClipLedge needs Accessibility access. It offers the system prompt the first time it tries to paste, or you can grant it in System Settings > Privacy & Security > Accessibility (called Device Control and Data Access on macOS 27).
Without Accessibility access ClipLedge still works: instead of pasting for you, it puts the clip back on the clipboard so you can paste it yourself with ⌘V.
Learn the hotkey
Press ⇧⌘V anywhere to open the shelf under the paperclip. The search box is focused as it opens, so you can start typing to filter at once. You can change the hotkey in Settings.
A quick tour of the shelf
The shelf is one horizontal row of cards, newest first:
- Use
←and→to move, and↩to paste the selected clip. - Switch between Recent and Pinned at the top. Pinning a clip does not take it out of Recent.
- Start typing to search, including the text inside screenshots.
- Press
Spacewith the search empty to Quick Look a clip. - Press
Escto clear the search, then again to close the shelf.
Auto-paste or copy only
With Accessibility access, ↩ pastes the clip into the app in front and sends ⌘V for you. Without it, ↩ copies the clip to the clipboard and you paste it yourself. You can also press ⌥⇧↩ to paste as plain text.
Where your history is stored
Your history is saved in a file on your Mac and restored after a restart. Nothing is uploaded. If you would rather not keep history across restarts, turn that off in Settings and ClipLedge clears unpinned clips each time it starts.
Next: activate your license when you are ready to buy, or read about privacy and app exclusions.